Friday, December 31, 2010

First Night Meets Hockey Night

Annual First Night celebrations are set to begin at 6:00 this evening with the opening fireworks. The family friendly New Year’s Eve event in the Cultural District is run by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Saturday’s Winter Classic hockey game is expected to swell usual attendance by as many as 20,000 revilers. Cultural Trust President Kevin McMahon says they are embarrassing the hockey theme, “We have hockey penguins, we have hockey stick collages, we’re going to have in the children’s tent at First Night we’re going to have a lot of hockey oriented activities…. Instead of arguing that there is too much going on in Pittsburgh we think there is never too much going on in Pittsburgh.”

Kathryn Heidemann, Director of First Night Pittsburgh says it is a great opportunity for the city to once again show off what makes it great. “We’re thrilled to welcome… Winter Classic patrons, to the heart of the Cultural District,” says Heidemann.

First night will also feature the rising ball at midnight with another round of fireworks. In between there will be a parade at 8pm and more than 125 event at 50 different venues.

Among the headliners will be Squonk Opera at the Byham Theater, the Neo-Futurists at the O’Reilly Theater and Tower of Power on an outdoor stage.

Outdoor activities are free to the public but get access to the indoor events revilers must have a First night button that can be purchased for $8 in advance or $10 New Year’s Eve at The Box Office at Theater Square.

Some of the indoor performance will require a free General Admission Seating Voucher. A full schedule of event can be found online.

The first ‘First Night’ in Pittsburgh was held in 1984.

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